If you read my previous about my Five Favorite Oklahoma City Bars you know that I have a new found love for Oklahoma City! I lived in Oklahoma from age 20-23 and really never gave Oklahoma City any love. Although it most likely deserved my love then, I talked to so many locals when I was here last month and heard that this city just keeps getting better and better and I couldn’t agree more. We were in town for a wedding but came a day early to explore some Oklahoma City restaurants and bars and I couldn’t recommend doing this more! We found these places by doing our own research, asking friends and asking some strangers. Everything we tried was SO good and I really can’t stop thinking about it, especially breakfast. So let’s start there…
Breakfast in Oklahoma City: Cafe Kacao
When we were at dinner our first night in Oklahoma City, we asked our server, “If someone had one last morning in the city where should they go for breakfast?” Now if someone asked where I lived I would definitely have a quick answer for this but he literally didn’t think one second, he smiled and said, “Cafe Kacao, no questions asked. It’s a Latin American restaurant and it’s actually rated in the top 100 best breakfast joints in the whole country.” WHAT?! We literally couldn’t wait for the morning so we could try it out!
We got there on a Friday around 9:30 AM and didn’t have a wait but come 10 AM they were already on an hour wait. I love this place for many reasons but especially the energy, everyone in the building was excited to be there and after trying the food now I know why. The servers were all extremely friendly and accommodating as well.
Everyone said the coffee is to die for and my husband totally agreed! As for me, I saw horchata and since I can’t live without it I had to have it! Ugh. So. Damn. Fresh.
It was soooooo hard to choose what we were going to order. Literally everything on the menu looked amazing and as we watched other’s food come out we were like, “We need to come back here every day and try it all!”
We settled on the Machaca (Scrambled eggs mixed with lime braised shredded beef, tomatoes, onions, jalapeños. Served with black beans, feta, potatoes with cheese and two flour tortillas.) and The Pupusas Breakfast (Two handmade corn tortillas stuffed with cheese & pork. served with two scrambled eggs, black beans & vinaigrette cabbage.) HOLY MAMA THEY WERE BOTH UNREAL.
The pupusas 1. The best corn tortillas I’ve ever tried. 2. CORN TORTILLAS STUFFED WITH CHEESE AND PORK!? I’m telling ya, everything we ordered was simply out of this world. I ordered a side of plantains and they were the best I’ve had since I was in Costa Rica. Also, can we talk about the potatoes they serve smothered in cheese and salsa verde!?
Well, if you can’t tell, we LOVED Cafe Kacao. Literally, one of the best breakfast’ I’ve ever had in my life! We loved it so much we got it to go on our way to the airport and tried their Cuban Omelet (Omelet stuffed with monterrey, whole black beans topped with Vaca frita (mojo shredded beef & onions), plantains, cobanero sauce.) So yum and my hungover self got corn tortillas and a side of potatoes so I could stuff the tortillas with them. SO. GOOD. Just a reminder, get here early, they don’t take reservations, but you can join their wait list on their website. When I picked up our to go order on Sunday they were on a 2.5 hour wait for a table.
Lunch in Oklahoma City: Sheesh Mahal
We absolutely love living in Traverse City, MI. For a small town we have such great restaurants, the only thing missing is really good Indian and wow did we get it in Oklahoma City. We asked around and our friends said we had to go to Sheesh Mahal. It’s a little hole in the wall spot and it’s absolutely delicious. Here they serve traditional Indian and Pakistani dishes.
We ordered Chicken Samosas, Lamb Seekh Kabob, Goat Karahi, Cheese and Garlic Naan and White Rice. The whole staff was extremely kind and welcoming and I want to come back here with a big group of people someday and order one of everything on the menu!
Whatever you do, don’t let the outside of this place deceive you. It is clean on the inside, OH SO TASTY and I couldn’t recommend it more. FYI they don’t have a website but they are easily found on Google Maps.
Dinner in Oklahoma City: FRIDA Southwest or Goro Ramen
For dinner it’s too hard to choose between these two. I know this because we originally went to FRIDA for dinner but then heard Goro Ramen was across the street so we decided to do an entree at each place. Best decision ever.
FRIDA Southwest
FRIDA is the newest restaurant in the Paseo Arts district and everyone is talking about it for good reason! The ambience alone is worth a visit and the food and drinks, even more so!
We sat at the bar and our bartender was awesome and so helpful! This where I tried my first ranch water (tequila Cascahuin Plata 48, lime, Topo Chico.) Now apparently this is very popular down in Oklahoma and although I order tequila, soda and lime often, Ranch Water is way more fun to say and Topo Chico is life, so it simply makes it better. So refreshing for the 100 degree day!
This is also where the bartender recommended my new favorite beer! We don’t drink a lot of beer so it’s always exciting when we find one that we love! I also love the can and name.
We ordered their Queso Fundido (FRIDA blend of southwest cheeses, rajas, pickled fresno, crispy corn tortilla) and their Duck Carnitas Chile Relleno (slow braised duck carnitas, pepita crusted chile, mole negro, chorizo wild rice, pico de gallo, ancho crema.) Both were to die for.
We absolutely loved FRIDA and couldn’t recommend it more! This would be such a perfect place for a date night or birthday group dinner. The service and food were incredible.
Goro Ramen
When we first sat down at the bar at FRIDA we picked the bartender’s brain on where else to eat on our trip. He told us that just across the street was Goro Ramen and that he actually helped open it. I had heard of this place as it was opening right when I moved from Oklahoma back to Michigan and I’ve always wanted to try it so we decided to do both! We started with a Miso Old Fashioned and the Pork Belly Nikumankara (age fried pork belly, plum sauce, pickled cucumbers and negi.) Sooooo good.
Next we ordered the Kare Mazemen Ramen (thick noodles, house-made curry sauce, chicken confit, beet pickled ginger, negi, and goma). Everything was so fresh and we were so glad we chose to do both because we literally couldn’t choose which restaurant we liked more. The service was incredible here and our server here was the one who introduced us to Cafe Kacao.
I loved visiting and trying all the new Oklahoma City restaurants! We were only here for 24 hours and can only imagine all the yum restaurants we missed! Did I miss one of your favorite Oklahoma City restaurants? If so please comment below as we’d love to try it next time we visit. Click here to read about my other Food and Drink adventures and thanks so much for reading along!
